Method and machine for securing clips on folders.



H. WEBER. METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SECURING CLIPS 0N FOLDERS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5.1917.

1 ,Q59,690. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET H. WEBER.

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SECURING CLIPS ON FOLDERS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5. I917- Patented Mar. 19, 1.918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 era FKQE.

HENRY WEBER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO LATI-IAM MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR SECURING CLIPS 0N FOLDERS.

I Specification. of Letters Eatent.

Patented Mar. 19, 19518.

Application filed July 5, 1917. Serial No. 178,712.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Method and Machine for Securing Clips on Folders, of which the following is.

a specification.

This invention relates to a new mode of securing holding clips to folders, booklets, and similar articles, to hold the leaves of the same together during passage through the mail, or at other times when it is desirable that they should be so secured, and embraces also a machine for carrying out the abovementioned process.

The object of the invention is to provide a method of operation by which results of the character named shall be secured more conveniently, economically and efliciently than has heretofore been possible, and to provide a machine of the class named which shall be of improved construction and capable of performing in an eflicient manner the operation referred to.

The invention is exemplified in the steps of the process and in the combination and arrangement of the parts of the machine shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the following specification, and it is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of a machine forming a part of the present invention and arranged to carry out the process included in the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view with parts in section showing details of construction and one step in the operation of process.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 4: is a horizontal sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation showing a detail of construction; and

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 show some of the steps usedin carrying out the present invention. A great deal-of printed matter 1n the form of folders, folding post-cards, booklets, and similar articles, is sent through the mail without being placed within a sealed envelop and it is desirable that the free edges of the sheets of such matter be held together during the passage through the mail without actually sealing the matter itself. There are also many other instances where it is desirable to hold the free edges of various sheets of material together by a clip or fastening device which does not perforate or otherwise mutilate the sheets themselves. In the present invention a method is provided for forming a fastening device for such purpose from a continuous wire or strip of metal and securely placing the clip thus formed in position over the edges of the sheets to be held, the entire operation being automatic and performed upon separate folders or sets of sheets in rapid succession, the only limit to the speed of operation being the rapidity with which the folders may be fed to the machine. The machine employed is in its general construction similar in many respects to stapling machines previously known in the art, one such machine being shown in my prior Patent No. 665,946, January 15, 1901, and a somewhat similar machine being shown in my Patent No. 1,074,564, September 30, 1913. Machines of this general construction are well known in the art and many patents have been issued to myself and others on various features connected with such machines.

The numeral 10 of the drawings designates a standard of a machine of the character mentioned which carries a worksupporting table 11 and a stapling head 12. Connected to the head 12 is an arm 13 which carries the support, not shown, for a spool for holding the wire lat from which the fastening clips are formed. A one-way gripping device 15 feeds the wire to the forming and driving mechanism and is reciprocated by an arm 17 pivotally mounted on the head 12 at 18 and provided with a roller 19 arranged to cooperate with a cam 20 by means of which the arm 17 is reciprocated. A second gripping device 21 holds the wire v against reverse movement; The wire isfedthrough a guide 22 to the clip-forming mechanism and the portions of the wire which form the clips are severed by a knife 23 operated by means of a plunger 2-1 driven by the cam in a well known manner fully explained in my Patent No. 1.071.121. As explained in that patent the knife 23 may be adjusted horizontally to vary the length of the wire severed for each fastening device to be formed.

Before the length of wire from which a clip is formed is severed from the main piece, the wire is fed into the position shown in Fig. 1 and enters a slot 25 in an anvil 26, see also Fig. 3, which isheld in a forward position to receive the wire by a coil spring 27. It will be noted from Figs. 1 and 6 of the drawings that the knife 23 severs the wire 14 so that the leg 28 of the disconnected piece which protrudes from the anvil 26 on the side from which the wire enters the slot 25 is of substantially the same length as the other leg 29 which is held by the anvil 26 and which projects slightly from the anvil on the'side opposite the leg 28, as shown at 30 in the drawings. After a portion of the wire from which the clip is formed has been disconnected a sliding former 31 is moved downwardly so that the sides 32 and .33 of the former pass on opposite sides of the anvil 26, as shown in Fig. 7. The side 32 of'the former 31 is provided with a longitudinal groove 34 which receives a tongue 35 formed upon a driving bar 36 for the purpose of guiding the bar in longitudinal movement relative to the former 31, as shown in Fig. 4. A similar slot 37 and tongue 38 are provided for guiding the opposite edge of the driver 36. The former 31 is reciprocated vertically in a guide block '39 secured to the stapling head 12 by means of a groove 40 in the cam 20 which receives a cam roller 41, Fig. 3, carried at the upper end of the former. The driver 36 is reciprocated in the guides provided in the former bymeans of a pin 42 and a pitman 43 which is pivoted at 44 to the cam 20. The parts are so related to one another that the former 31 reaches the position shown in Fig. 7 before the driver 36 has moved downwardly a sutficient distance to engage the anvil 26. It will be understood from Fig. 7 that when the former is moved to the position shown in that figure, the leg 28 of the severed portion of, the wire will be bent downwardly and lie in the groove 34 of the side 32 of the former. It will be observed from Figs. 5, 7 and 8 that the side 33 of the former is provided with a slot 45 which straddles the projection 30 of the leg 29 of the severed portion of the wire so that this short projection is not bent downwardly in the same manner as the leg 28. However, the upper. end of the s10t 45 is provided with a. rounded bearing surface 46 which contacts with the projection 30 of the leg 29 just enough to give the projection a slight downward inclination when the former reaches its lowermost position. The bearing surface 46 is rounded, as indicated, in order that there may be no danger of exertinga shearing action upon the projecting portion 30 of the fastener wire. ,7

After the former has reached its lowermost position and bent the severed portion of the wire into shape shown in Fig. 7, the driver 36 moves downwardly and first contacts with the beveled surface 47 of the anvil 26 and forces the anvil backwardly out of the path of the driver compressing the spring 27. As the anvil 26 moves rearwardly, the clip 28 is held in its original position by the groove 34 and the slot 45, and hence is released from the anvil 26 andleft free to be pushed downwardly by the driver 36. During this downward movement the leg 28 of the clip just passes the front edges of the sheets to be secured 4 is guided in properly positioning the sheets by any suitable arrangement of stops, such as shown at 50 and'51. It will thus be seen that the partially formed clip is so moved that the leg 28 passes by the edges of the sheets to be secured in close proximity thereto and the leg 29 is brought downwardly against the upper surface of the uppermost sheet, the bent portion 30 ofjthe leg 29 being resiliently pressed into contact with the upper surface of the sheet.

' Clenching mechanism, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 8, is provided for the leg 28, such mechanism comprising a'dog 52 pivoted at 53 to a fixed support 54 and held in position to present an inclined surface to the leg 28 as the leg moves downwardly below the table top. After the driver 36 has reached its lowermost position the dog 52 1S rotated about its pivot 53 by mechanism well known in the art, a form of which is described in Patent No. 1,096,113, so that the leg 28 of the clip is moved firmly into contact with the. lower surface of the lowermost sheet 49, while the downwardly bent portion 30' of the leg 29 is still held resiliently in .contact with the uppermost sheet by the driver 36. In this way the clip is formed and placed in position to hold the free edges of the sheets 49 in fixed relation to one-annasageao and the speed of operation is only limited by -the rate at which the sheets may be fed to the machine. It is evident that automatic feeding mechanism for the sheets could be substituted for :the hand feed, but such feeding mechanism forms no part of the present invention and, therefore, need not be shown in order for a complete understanding of the invention.

The mechanism may 'be adjusted to ac commodatestacks-of sheets of a great range of thickness, the onlyadjustment necessary being the lowering of the table and clencher support an amount corresponding to the in crease in the thickness of the stack, and the adjustment of the cutting knife 23 to the left in Fig. 1 a corresponding amount to allow for the wire necessary to extend across the edge of the stack. In this way the machine may be setfor any thickness of stack desired. It is, of course, apparent that the machine is not confined to use upon paper sheets alone, but may be used in connection with any kind of material that it is desired to secure in this manner.

I claim 1. The method of securing sheets together which consists in bending a portion of the end of a length of material out of alinement with the other portion of said length forming a clip for said sheets by bending'said length of material at a point therein removed from the point of said firstmentioned bending about adjacent edges of said sheets a suflicient amount to bring the ends of said length of material to resiliently bear upon the surfaces of said sheets in opposition to one another to hold the sheets to gether.

2. The method of securing the free edges of sheets of material together which consists in bending a strip of metal into L- shape, moving one leg of the clip thus formed pastthe edges of the sheets to be secured'to bring the other leg of the clip into engagement with one surface of the sheets and bending the first-mentioned leg about the edges of said sheets to bring said leg into contact with the opposite surface of said sheets.

3. The method of securing sheets of material together which consists in forming a clip from a short length of wire by bending said length intermediate its ends to form legs, offsetting the end of one of said legs toward the other and bringing the ends or said legs to bear on opposite surfaces of the sheets with sufiicient force to place resilient stress in said offset leg to cause resilient gripping of said sheets between said legs.

4. The process of securing sheets of material together which consists in severing a, shortlengthpt ire tram a continuous,

piece offsetting one end of said length of wire and bending said length about the edges of the sheets to be secured while the offset end of said length is held against one surface of said sheets with sufficient force to cause resilient gripping stress in the clip thus formed.

5. The process of securing sheets of ma-' terial together which consists in severing a short length of wire from a continuous piece, bending said length near its central portion to form an L thereof and bending the end of one leg of said L slightly toward the second leg, moving said second leg past the edge of the sheets to be secured to bring the first leg into engagement with one surface of said sheets and finally bending said second leg into engagement with the opposite surface of said sheets while the first leg is held in position against the firstmentioned surface.

6. In combination, means for severing short lengths of metal. from a continuous piece, means for holding sheets of material. in position to be operated upon, means for feeding a severed length of metal in a direction transverse to the plane of said sheets and into engagement with one surface of said sheets with one end of said length extending beyond the edge of said sheets, and means for automatically bending said extending end about the edge of said sheets to cause said length of metal to hold said sheets together.

7. In combination, mechanism for forming an .L-shaped clip from a stripot metal, means for moving one leg o1 said clip adjacent to and past the edges of a plurality of sheets of material to be secured together to bring the other leg of said clip into engagement with one surface of said sheets, and means for bending the first-mentioned leg of said L about the edges of said sheets to cause said leg to contact with the opposite surface'of said sheets to grip said sheets between the legs of the clip thus formed.

8. In combination, mechanism for forming an L-shaped clip from a strip of metal, means for driving said clip in the direction of the length of one leg thereof, means for holding sheets of material in position to be secured together so that their edges shall lie adjacent the path of movement of said leg, and means for bending said leg about said edges to bring the two legs of said clip into substantial parallelism with one another in position to grip the sheets.

9. In combination, mechanism for suc cessively forming a plurality of holding clips from a continuous strip of metal, including means for severing short lengths from said strip and for bending said lengths intermediate their ends to form legs for aid clips, mea s for slightly bending one of said legs to impart a resilient ofiset thereto,

and means for bending the holding clips thus formed about the sheets of material to be held together so that the ends of said legs bear resiliently upon opposite surfaces of said sheets.

10. In combination, mechanism for feeding a continuous piece of wire step by step, means for severing short lengths from said wire after each feeding movement, means for holding a portion of the length thus severed in a horizontal position, means for bending the remaining portion of said length into a vertical position to form an L-shaped clip, means for driving said clip in the direction of the vertical leg thereof, means for holding sheets of material to be secured together in position with their edges 7 adjacent the path of movement of said leg,

and means for bending said leg upwardly toward the opposite leg of said clip to cause said legs to grip said sheets in opposition to one another andto hold said sheets togethera 11. In a machine for placing fastening clips upon sheets of material to be secured together, a device for holding a short length of wire from which said clips are formed, and a former for bending one end of said wire into a position substantially at right angles to the remaining portion of said wire and for bending a portion of the remaining part of said wire slightly toward the firstmentioned end.

12. In combination, an anvil for holding a length of wire from which a clip is formed, and a former for said clip having a slot therein for receiving one end of said wire to avoid excessive bending of said end.

13. In combination, mechanism for feeding a continuous piece of wire, means for severing short lengths from said piece, a device for holding a length thus severed, a former arranged to cooperate with said holding device to bend said length near its central portion to form an L-shaped clip therefrom, said former having a slot therein to receive one end of said length to prevent excessive bending thereof, a driver for moving the clip thus formed into contact with sheets of material to be secured, means for holding said sheets in position adjacent the path of movement of one leg of said clip but removed from said path to avoid perforation of said sheets by said leg, and means for bending said leg about the edges of said 7 I sheets to bringsaid lengths into substantial a former arranged to move on opposite sides of said anvil and to bend one end of said wire to form an L-shaped clip, said former having a slot therein for receiving the opposite end of said wire and having the end of said slot arranged to contact with the end of said wire to bend said wire slightly, a driver for moving the clip thus formed in the direction of one of the legs thereof, means for holding sheets in position of material adjacent the path of movement of said leg, means for bending said leg'about the edges of said sheets to bring said leg opposite the slightly bent portion of said clip while said portion is held pressed against the surface of said sheets to cause said clip to grip said sheets firmly 'together. v

15. In combination, an anvil having a slot therein for receiving'a wire, means for feeding one end of a continuous piece of wire into said slot so that it protrudes slightly therefrom, means for severing a short length of wire from said piece at a distance removed from said anvil substantially equal to the amount of wire fed into said slot, means for bending the end of said wire protruding from said slot on the side from. which it entered said anvil to form an L-shaped clip, means for bending the pro-. truding portion of the opposite end of said wire slightly in the direction in which said first-mentioned end was bent, mechanism for moving the clip thus formed to bring the vertex of the angle between the legs of the clip into contact with the edges of sheets of material to be secured together, and means for bending the clip about said edges to cause said clip to hold said sheets firmly together.

16. The method of securing sheets of material together whichconsists in severlng a short length from a continuous piece of wire, offsetting a portion of said length at one end thereof, moving said length into ongagement with one surface of the'sheets to be secured so that the offset portion of said length engages said surface while the other end of said length extends beyond the edge of said sheets, forcing said length of wire against said surface so that the pressure of the offset portion of said wire against said surface will impart a resilient stress to said wire, and finally bending the portion of said wire extending beyondthe edge of said sheets into engagement with the surface of i other leg of said clip in the direction of the length thereof past the edge of the sheets to be secured, pressing the leg of said clip having the ofiset thereon into engagement with the surface of said sheets, and finally bending the other leg of said clip into engagement with the surface of said sheets opposite the offset leg.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification on this 30th day of June, A. D. 1917.

HENRY WEBER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatents,

Washington, D. C. 

